A multimedia conference system typically allows multiple participants to communicate and share different types of media content in a collaborative and real-time meeting over a network. The multimedia conference system may display different types of media content using various graphical user interface (GUI) windows or views. For example, one GUI view might include video images of participants, another GUI view might include presentation slides, yet another GUI view might include text messages between participants, and so forth. In this manner various geographically disparate participants may interact and communicate information in a virtual meeting environment similar to a physical meeting environment where all the participants are within one room.
In some cases, a number of participants for a multimedia conference may gather in a conference room. To facilitate collaboration, a whiteboard or other writing surface may be used for notes, diagrams, and other non-permanent markings. Due to constraints on input devices such as video cameras, however, it may be difficult for remote viewers to view the whiteboard and any writings thereon. One common solution is to utilize an electronic or interactive whiteboard designed to convert markings made on the writing surface to digital information. An interactive whiteboard, however, may be expensive due to the hardware and software requirements for the interactive whiteboard, and potentially increases complexity for a user due to the associated configuration operations needed to setup and operate the interactive whiteboard. Another alternative is to use a specially designed pen for the whiteboard, although it has the same type of limitations. It is with respect to these considerations and others that the present improvements have been made.